The general consensus of the members of the Science Committee and the witnesses was the program could have a major impact in reducing the loss, both terms of human life and economic, from sever windstorms. None of the members of the Committee present, nor any of the three witnesses, opposed the program. However, since its creation in 2004, there has been no appropriated funding for the program and in September of 2009 authorization for the program expired.

Efforts to reauthorize NWIRP and its larger, more established, better funded sister program, the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP), have been ongoing since 2009. Spanning five years and three Congresses, we are once again facing an uphill battle to reauthorize the two programs and, in the case of NWIRP, fund a program that everyone seems to support.

The question seems to be, why? This is the kind of program Congress used to routinely reauthorize on schedule. However, the program, like many others, has become a victim of competing priorities, and a more partisan Congress. There is a long list of reason these two programs have not been reauthorized, most having nothing to do with their merits. The simple fact is, the Federal government annually spends billions on disaster relief, and seemingly baulks at spending millions in an effort to reduce the need to spend the billions.

Meanwhile, as efforts get underway to rebuild in More, Oklahoma, if recent history is any indication, it will be rebuilt to the same building codes which existed before the recent tornado, just as was done in 1999 and 2003, with just as predictable of results. As David Prevatt, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, stated during the hearing, “this is not that complicated, windstorms are possibly the only natural disasters whose impact on humans could be mostly resolved by proper research.”

ASCE urges the 116th Congress to focus on prioritizing infrastructure upgrades and modernization to sustain our economy, public health, and safety. Contact your Member of Congress to urge them to draft and pass legislation that moves toward closing the $2 trillion investment gap.

Senate Appropriators have allocated funding to the High Hazard Potential Dams Program. Write your Members of Congress and ask them to fund this program so that our nation’s “D” dams can receive the investment they need.